Sport
4 July, 2023
Depleted Rattlers fall to ladder leaders
A BRAVE effort from a severely understrength Brisbane Valley Rattlers outfit wasn’t enough to prevent a landslide loss to ladder leaders the Mt Gravatt Vultures at Dittmer Park last Friday night.
The Rattlers were up against it as about 12 players were unavailable, which coach Billy North later said was “never nice especially playing the top side”.
“I was happy with the effort the guys brought,” he said.
“Our guys really battled well in the contests all night.
“Some more reward for our effort would have been nice.”
The 93-point margin represented the biggest loss by far for the Rattlers this year, while it was also the first time this year that they conceded a century of points after it was a regular occurrence last year.
Curiously, last Friday was also the first time this year that the Rattlers lost an away game, after the previous week was the first time they won at home since the final round of last year.
Last Friday’s result kept Mt Gravatt’s unbeaten season intact after 10 rounds of the Queensland Football Association (QFA) Div 4 South competition, while Brisbane Valley slipped to outright sixth.
Mt Gravatt led by only two goals at quarter-time after kicking 3.1.19 in the first term, before extending the gap to six goals at half-time after kicking 4.6.30 to Brisbane Valley’s 1.0.6 in the second term.
The Rattlers were kept scoreless in the second half, while the Vultures kicked 2.5.17 in the third quarter and 6.4.40 in the final quarter to run out 15.16.106 to 2.1.13 victors.
Liam Corboy kicked four majors for the winners while Oliver Frey, Jake Carl and Wade Hurst kicked two apiece. Five other Mt Gravatt players landed one goal each.
Jye Cruff and Paul Darcy kicked a goal each for Brisbane Valley.
The Brisbane Valley coach said it was disappointing that the Rattlers “didn’t get more reward on the scoreboard for their effort”.
“Losing some of our important forward half players showed, but the guys still had a crack,” he said.
“(There was) just not much conversion or reward.”
North gave credit to the Vultures, saying “they play a fast brand of football, they are very well structured and work hard in both defence and attack”.
“Their ability to hurt you on turnovers is really good and something we can learn from,” he said.
North said three or four players were likely to return for this Friday night’s home match against the seventh-placed Redland-Victoria Point Sharks at Fernvale Sports Park.
The Sharks are coming off a thumping 17.17.119 to 2.6.18 win against the second-last Ipswich Cats, after the Rattlers beat the Sharks 11.8.74 to 8.6.54 back on May 12.
